"Fun GPU" advice please!

[CapitalOne]

Hi all

Subsequent to JR's birthday LAN (note - in early May so lots of time) and dismemberment of the spare boxes to be used I will have some kit to put in the brand new Corsair C70 sitting in the garage.

I've got everything sorted in my head except the GPU(s). Kit pile will include:

Fractal Design 1000w PSU
Asrock Z77 Extreme 4
i5 3470
2x Sapphire 2GB R7 260X

As this will be gaming pc number 3 I wanted to do something more interesting than single cards. Obvious answer is Crossfire the 260X but that feels like it might be a bit underpowered? Happy to wait and hope for lower priced 280/290 crossfire but not sure if Z77 + i5 will bottleneck them. Any thoughts? Gaming would be at 2k or 1440.

Edit - happy to go SLI, either way, no preference.

Thanks in advance

 

[ghost.florian]

280x Crossfire would be great. 260x crossfire is not worth it, and 290 Crossfire might be too much.

 

[CapitalOne]

Thankyou that sounds sensible

 

[CapitalOne]

Does anyone know if the sapphire logo on the side of this card changes colour with temperature as on my vaporx 290x?

Thanks

 

[ghost.florian]

http://techgage.com/wp-content/uplo...on-R9-280-Dual-X-Video-Connectors-680x457.jpg

Looks more like it's glued on.

 

[CapitalOne]

Spotted sir.

 

[CapitalOne]

I now favour 2x285 or more likely 2x290 once the 3xx are out.

Kaboom!

 

[RanxZy]

I now favour 2x285 or more likely 2x290 once the 3xx are out.

Kaboom!

You're getting less performance with the 2x285 than the 280X and even with the new features on the 285 I would rather have a pair of 280s due to having that extra 1GB vram.

The 285 is just another rebrand of Tahiti that's cheaper to produce bribed with a few new features.

 

[ghost.florian]

I now favour 2x285 or more likely 2x290 once the 3xx are out.

Kaboom!

2x290 is a serious beast, but you are looking at £450 at least, with the Sapphire and Asus deals.

If you want to wait until the 3xx series, you have at least 4 months of waiting ahead of you And even then, prices will definitely not be as cheap as the 290s are now.

 

[CapitalOne]

Yes understood, but JR's LAN is mid-may so a bit of a wait. I'd hope to get the 290s a little cheaper by then. If not, very much noted about 285vs280x - on reflection a bridge doesnt bother me! Many thanks for the comments.